Daily Times

KARACHI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), in its fresh advisory on Sunday, forecasted that another heat wave will hit the city on Tuesday and continue till Thursday.

The latest weather alert issued by the PMD said that residents of the city are likely to experience hot to very hot weather from Tuesday to Thursday. The maximum temperature is expected to remain between the range of 40 to 44 degrees Celsius.

The weather alert issued by the PMD attributed the expected rise in temperature to continental winds from the northwest and a change in the direction of cool and humid sea breeze.

This would be fourth heat wave that the port city has to face in this year.

On Tuesday, the peak day of this new heat wave, the temperature is expected to touch to 44 degrees Celsius. The evening time humidity is expected to remain between 10 to 20 percent.

PMD warned the authorities to make arrangements to save lives

Faisal Edhi of Edhi Foundation said that in the recent heat wave that had started from May 19 and continued till May 21, his charity had received the bodies of over 65 people who had died of heatstroke.

Sindh government, on the other hand, claimed that not a single person had died due to heatstroke during the heat wave.

Head of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) , Seemi Jamali, claimed that JPMC, the city’s biggest public sector hospital did not receive a single case of heatstroke during the previous three day heat wave.

Heat waves are becoming alarmingly frequent in Karachi. According to the weather experts, severe and frequent heat waves in coastal areas are caused by climate change and they are bound to get worse with every passing year.

“Lack of urban planning, scattered settlements and use of concrete is making Karachi more vulnerable to heatwaves,” said PMD Director General Dr. Ghulam Rasul.

Dr Rasul said that the average temperature of Arabian Sea is also rising due to global warming. A rise in the sea’s temperature results in the creation of a low pressure area and that prevents cool sea breeze from reaching Karachi. He said that the absence of sea breeze coupled with the heat wave could pose a serious threat to the city’s residents.

“We need more green cover and urban forest in Karachi, if we want to seriously tackle the heat waves,” said Dr Rasul.

The temperature in Karachi on Sunday was 37 to 39 degrees Celsius. The temperature is expected to rise gradually to 38-40 degrees Celsius from Monday onwards

No rain was reported anywhere in the country on Sunday. PMD said that continental air is prevailing and mainly hot weather is expected in most parts of the country.

Plain areas of Sindh and Punjab also continue to experience hot weather. On Sunday, the temperature in Lahore shot up to 41 degrees Celsius.

48 degrees Celsius was recorded in Dadu, Jaccobabad, Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad Lasbella while 47oC was recorded in Sibbi and Sindh’s Moenjodaro, Rohri and Bhakkar.

Published in Daily Times, May 28^th 2018.